This invention relates generally to digital television receivers and specifically to a technique for optimally orientating an antenna for a digital television receiver.
The Zenith proposed HDTV television system incorporates a digital television signal that consists of repetitive frames of data segments, each comprising a plurality of symbols, with each data segment being headed by a data segment sync code and an initial data segment comprising a frame sync code. The sync codes consist of rugged two level symbols and the other data and video portions comprise eight level symbols. The data is error protected and interleaved. Additionally, since the HDTV signals may exist in the same environment with NTSC co-channels, special processing circuitry is available for discriminating against NTSC co-channel signals. The above system is presently undergoing FCC evaluation testing.
The HDTV digital television signal is of lower power than the corresponding NTSC signal, and consequently antenna orientation for terrestrial broadcasts can be of extreme importance. The present invention describes a technique for accurately orientating or positioning the antenna for optimal reception of the digital television signal. The antenna may comprise an indoor antenna such as a rabbit-ears or bow-tie, or an outdoor antenna. Also, the antenna may comprise an electronically positionable or controlled antenna such as a phased-array antenna or a motorized antenna.